Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The wind caressed the sharp needles of the pine tree. A cone forced to part with the branch, snapped in frustration as it tumbled to earth; clattering and banging its way down the trunk. Tall and straight, the pine tree stood proudly in the suburban backyard.Its majesty had saved it from the developers; as others around it were sawn off at ground level to make way for progress.

The wind had picked up now and blew harder around the tree. The trunk groaned and creaked its resistance. The recent drought had dried up all flexibility within the spine of the tree. Another cone fell to earth, closely followed by a top branch.

One of the last pines left standing on Pine Circuit, its mate had been cut down recently to make way for next doors garage. The great pine had been host to a few half hearted attempts of tree houses, had rope ladders and swings attached and many cats had clung to its branches hissing their fury at neighbors dogs.

The wind stopped momentarily, allowing the tree to seemingly shiver. A sprinkling of needles and another cone found its way to earth.

An argument from the house gathered momentum and a young blond lady in jeans stormed out and threw a pot plant back through the doors. She picked up a pile of glossy advertisements and threw them onto the veranda and in doors for good measure.She turned and ran towards the tree, easily scaling the lower limbs. A young man ran out after her, still wiping the remains of a spaghetti dinner from his shirt and dirt from the pot plant from his face.

“Don’t be stupid Leslie, what the hell are you proving climbing a tree? Come on down and lets talk this over” He pleaded.

Leslie clung to the roughened bark of the tree, frowned down at Paul and climbed further up. She pulled a cone from one of the branches and pegged it Paul, missing him by a country mile.

“You never let me do anything I like. Get out of my life, I hate you!” Leslie screamed down at him.

“So, is climbing a tree something you want to be doing right now?” Paul queried.

“ I like this tree and I am staying here till you leave.” She called down.

Paul began climbing the tree unsteadily. He tucked the beer bottle he had in his hand into his belt, ignoring the sloshing of its contents on his trousers.

Leslie looked back and began to climb higher. Despite Pauls ungainly start, his agility improved and quickly closed the gap between he and Leslie. As they neared the top. Paul straddled a branch and pulled out the beer from his waistband.He drank the warm, flat remains and threw the empty bottle onto the grass below.

“So, Leslie, this is fun.” Paul drawled. “ You want to come down now, so we can finish dinner and you can choose the movie we go and see.”

“ See that’s just it.I want more out of life than just dinner and a movie.I want excitement and spice and adventure.” Leslie pleaded.

“Oh Leslie, Adventure is over rated. I mean look at us now – isn’t this exciting?” Paul said mater of factly.

The defiance had left her eyes. Leslie climbed down a little to be closer to Paul. She smiled slightly in defeat. Instead of climbing down, they started to chat, to observe the magnificent views and the starlit night above them.As the night closed around them and the wind picked up again, Paul lifted his hand up towards Leslie.

“Coming down now?I tell you what.How about you enroll for something adventurous tomorrow?”

Leslie nodded and slid down towards the branch he was straddling. A sudden gust caused the tree to sway and Leslies grip loosened. She screamed as she slipped a few feet ,but managed to grab onto the branches and safety next to Paul. The extra weight so high up and the gusting wind, forced the tree to groan and complain in its crackly voice.

“You first. Down you go.” Paul helped Leslie down to the next branch.

Just as her arm snaked around the trunk, it snapped above her hand. Paul,still holding the top of the tree; meters above ground level; crashed sickenly to earth. A barrage of cones pounded the ground and surrounded his broken body. Leslies screams pierced the still night sky.The wind picked up the loose papers on the veranda and the glossy advertisements for adventure clubs fluttered around Pauls still body.

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Flash Fiction

This site is used to capture first drafts of Flash Fiction.

Any deemed worthy enough of a second glance will be pulled down to polish and hone to present to my editors and beta readers; and then perhaps submitted to competitions, anthology call outs or the like.

Your feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome.

My work is protected under the Creative Commons Licence. If you'd like to use it - just contact me.

Annie is author of “Reclaim” a survival guide for couples and conducts workshops with community groups along with speaking at key events on the subjects of reclaiming femininity, parenting and living the conscious, authentic life .

Annie draws on her early years growing up in the Australian Bush, her time as a classroom teacher and work in the corporate field to bring life experience to her eclectic style of workshops, writing and artwork. Having scribbled and sketched in the margins throughout school, university and in business meetings, she felt it time to bring her images and ideas to light.

She explores themes in mothering, feminism, spirituality and sharing her journey as a woman and mother in all her outlets of creativity.